‘Tughlaq’ written by Girish Karnad is based on the turbulent rule of Mohammad Bin Tughlaq. The aim of Mohammad Bin Tughlaq to unify India and make the religion out of the politics cost him heavily. ‘Tughlaq’ covers the result that followed his various decisions. It shows how religion can be misused. This play describes the helplessness of a Powerful Ruler.

The play is an early Girish Karnad work.

Gerson played Sheikh Imamuddin, a critic of Tughlaq. Alyque used make-up to have Gerson look as much as possible as Kabir Bedi who played Tughlaq, In a battle, the enemy mistakes Imamuddin on an elephant for Tughlaq, kills him and loses the battle to a trick. Tughlaq was an eccentric emperor who introduced copper coinage with much innovation.

It began in a way in which Alyque asked the playwright’s permission, as the play opens in total darkness, and a spot picks out a figure who is nude, the back of a nude man, Kabir Bedi, and this nude figure is clad on stage, as though layering his character and then the figure turns around fully clothed as the emperor Tughlaq.

Fun Facts : In 1979, AP got a chance to do his first film script based on Girish Karnad’s play, ‘Tughlaq’. He had hoped to get Amitabh Bachchan to play the lead, and thereby raise the finance for what was estimated to be a one-crore-rupee project at that time. Unfortunately, shortly after he spoke, Amitabh met with his near-fatal accident on the sets of Coolie and the movie never materialised.

Piloo Pochkanawala, the famous sculptor, did the sets and Pearl Padamsee did the costumes in conjunction with the costume designer of the movie ‘Mughal-e-Azam’.

In Alyque’s words, “I was haunted by this ‘man into myth’ idea. One day at the gym, I saw Kabir in his briefs doing his weights. It hit me. ‘My God! What a beautifully muscled back. What a well-sculpted body he’s got now.’ It suddenly came to me in a flash. I saw a bare forked animal, a vulnerable naked man. And I saw him being dressed in the robes of the emperor, and when he turns to face the audience, he is the emperor. So it became a compulsion to never miss the opening of ‘Tughlaq’.”